Chapter 59: Chapter 59: Accompanying Mom to Buy a Little Dress

After Ji Zeqiu fell ill, the film crew needed to request leave, and his other engagements were subsequently postponed as well.

The manager was so anxious he was running around in circles, even persuading Ji Zeqiu several times to go to the hospital and get an IV, which would help him recover faster.

However, with his stubbornness kicking in, he just wouldn’t budge, insisting on waiting here for Wen Li.

The manager, fearing Ji Zeqiu was feverish to the point of delirium, could only procure some fever-reducing medicine for him, while praying that Wen Li would come quickly to convince this lord to get to the hospital.

But from dawn to dusk, after five or six unanswered calls on Ji Zeqiu’s mobile phone, nobody had picked up.

He paced anxiously at the hotel entrance, and then it struck him like a flash of lightning. He thought of someone.

Shen Qingtang.

She and Wen Li were somewhat alike, and since Ji Zeqiu was out of his mind with fever, maybe he wouldn’t be able to tell the two apart.

Just as the manager was seriously considering this possibility, the phone finally rang.

Without even checking the caller ID, he answered and blurted out, “Lady Wen, where are you? If you don’t come soon, Zeqiu is going to pass out from the fever!”

“What do you mean pass out from fever, what’s happened to him!” There was a hitch in the breathing from the other end of the phone, and the delicate voice took on a tone of panic.

It was a different timbre than Wen Li’s.

The manager glanced at the caller ID, only to realize that the person on the other side wasn’t Wen Li, but Lin Xu.

When had the two exchanged contact information?

Just as a wisp of puzzlement began to form, Lin Xu’s urgent voice cut through.

“Brother Zhao, hurry up and explain! What’s happened to Zeqiu!”

Under her prompting, the manager divulged Ji Zeqiu’s condition to her.

Lin Xu asked for the hotel’s location, said she’d be there soon, and hung up.

This time, the manager really didn’t have to wait long—she covered the several-dozen-kilometers distance from the city to the hotel in half an hour.

At least someone had come.

That’s what the manager thought as he opened the door to let her in, “You’ve finally arrived, Zeqiu’s condition seems to have worsened…”

Lin Xu approached and saw Ji Zeqiu’s cheeks burning red; he was clutching the blanket to his chest tightly, as if enduring a nightmare, sweat beading on his forehead with heavy, uneasy breaths.

Lin Xu reached out and touched his forehead, the scalding temperature spreading from his skin to the palm of her hand, causing her to cry out in shock.

She took out the fever-reducing patch she had bought on the way and applied it to his forehead, hoping it would help cool him down.

The cool sensation dispelled the hot breaths, and Ji Zeqiu’s furrowed brows gradually relaxed.

Even though he had taken medicine, Lin Xu was still worried and asked the manager to call a doctor to give Ji Zeqiu a fever-reducing injection.

“What if he doesn’t want to?” the manager hesitated.

“He’s passed out, how would he know all this,” Lin Xu said.

Hearing this, the manager thought it made sense and took out his phone to arrange a doctor’s visit.

Even in his dazed and slumbering state, Ji Zeqiu remained acutely sensitive; he began to struggle uncomfortably as soon as the doctor raised the needle.

The familiar scene caused Lin Xu a moment of daze, and almost instinctively, she took Ji Zeqiu’s hand. Without giving it much thought, the words came out as if they had been said a thousand times before:

“Zeqiu be good, we’re just going to get a fever shot, and after it’s done you’ll feel much better, then you can continue to go shopping with mom~”

Her voice was soft, melodic and pleasant, effortlessly conjuring shared memories.

In one or two months before Lin Xu passed away, Xiao Zeqiu had just recovered from an illness with a severe fever.

Just like all little kids, Xiao Zeqiu also hated going to the hospital and would rather take medicine than get an injection.

However, after taking medicine for a day, his temperature didn’t go down but instead increased, worrying Lin Xu so much she was close to crying. She had no choice but to call the family doctor to give him an injection.

When Xiao Zeqiu saw the needle, he wrapped himself in the blanket and shrank into the bed, crying. The tears, as big as peas, kept spilling from his eyes, wetting his little rosy cheeks, making even the doctor feel pity.

Lin Xu had to hold him in her arms and coax him, holding his little hand and saying, “… it’ll be better soon after the injection, and then you can keep accompanying Mommy to go out shopping~”

Because he was sick, Xiao Zeqiu had to lie in bed and couldn’t continue accompanying Lin Xu to buy pretty dresses, wrinkling his little face with worry.

After weighing the options between his mother and the injection for a few seconds, Xiao Zeqiu conceded, pouting, “Alright then, just one shot, and after it’s done, I’ll go with Mommy to buy dresses.”

As he watched the needle descend, those round eyes suddenly closed tight, fearfully shrinking into Lin Xu’s embrace.

The pain lasted for a few seconds, and then the fever-reducing injection was over.

The doctor retracted the needle and the agent escorted him out.

Most of the past, Ji Zeqiu hardly remembered now, even forgetting what his mother looked like.

It was as though a big hole had been gouged out of his chest, with many memories excavated from it. The mouth of that hole would occasionally widen, lonely and painful.

He also didn’t dare to go through photos, afraid that he would remember the good life his family of five once had and tear a new bloody scar over that hole.

He could only choose to forget.

But today, he inexplicably remembered things he had long forgotten.

Tears spilled from his tightly closed eyes, wetting Ji Zeqiu’s long lashes, his grip on Lin Xu’s hand getting stronger, murmuring softly at the corner of his mouth.

Lin Xu leaned close to listen and heard him say, “… after the shot, I’ll go with Mommy to buy dresses.”

It seemed that even though he claimed to hate his mother, when he was sick and vulnerable, he still called for his mommy.

Lin Xu took a tissue to wipe the sweat from his body and smiled faintly, “Okay, then after you wake up we’ll go buy dresses.”

“Mm…”

Ji Zeqiu uttered a dull and blurry response, his breathing even, and he gradually fell asleep.

He slept very deeply.

Ji Zeqiu dreamed of many things from his childhood, hugging his mother and asking her to tell him stories, insisting she stay with him to sleep without going back to her room, the bits and pieces of the fun they had at the amusement park…

However, his mother’s face was like a mosaic, blurred and indistinct. He tried hard to open his eyes, but no matter how hard he looked, he couldn’t see clearly.

As dawn broke, his mother, like a mermaid, slowly became transparent, and like bubbles, the warm hand that held his also slipped away from his grasp.

“Mommy, don’t go, don’t go…” Ji Zeqiu flailed his hands in panic, trying to grab something.

The next moment.

He suddenly opened his eyes, staring blankly at the white ceiling, an uncomfortable feeling rising from his heart and spreading to his limbs.

Ji Zeqiu reached out to clutch his chest but found his hand held by someone.

He paused for a moment, remembering that Wen Li had said she would visit him the day before; a hint of joy appeared on his pale face.

“Wen…”

Ji Zeqiu turned his head and the words abruptly halted when he saw the face resting quietly on the edge of the bed.

How could it be Lin Xu?

Has she been here all night?